


A World Below

by SwoodMaxProductions



Series: The Triforce Trio AU [4]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Breath of the Wild Sequel Trailer, Corpse ganondorf, Dehydrated Ganondorf, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Good Ganondorf, Hurt/Comfort, Mummydorf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-25 20:37:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20918255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwoodMaxProductions/pseuds/SwoodMaxProductions
Summary: They have no idea what to do next, but what they do have is each other.





	A World Below

There was an entire world below Hyrule. A world lit by glowing crystals and bioluminescence, full of ruins and carvings and… Ganondorf.

The undead Gerudo was Link’s only guide, awkwardly shambling through the caverns and passages. They couldn’t take much as they were right now from the strange armory Ganondorf had led him to, but Ganondorf did bring along a trident that seemed to have been his, judging by its size. It was being used as really more of a walking stick, the broken Gerudo leaning heavily on it to compensate for his limp.

Every now and then, as the forgotten king moved, Link could catch split-second glimpses of Malice writhing in the gaps between desiccated muscles, before it abruptly vanished. It happened a bit more frequently with each tunnel they passed through, and as the dark corruption appeared once more, Link noticed Ganondorf shudder.

It was then that Link realized— Ganondorf was actively holding the Malice back.

Everything Princess Zelda had told him made perfect sense now. She had said that Ganondorf had spoken to her, and from what the princess had told him, the lost voe had used himself as a seal for the Malice… 

Goddess’s mercy. Ten thousand years. He’d been doing this for ten thousand years. It was no wonder he seemed so exhausted and shaky...

The scrape of stone snapped Link from his horrified realization. It took a few seconds, like one of the Sheikah machines starting up, but Ganondorf wrenched his body to face the source of the sound, magic sparking in his skeletal hands.

“H- Hello? Link?”

“Zelda?!”

The princess was climbing down some sort of large fungal taproot in the wall, sending the occasional shower of pebbles to the cavern floor.

“Oh, thank the Goddess you’re alr—“

As she awkwardly landed from her climb down, Zelda was now getting her first good look at Ganondorf.

“... Ganondorf…?” she whispered in horror.

The lost voe slowly nodded, faded mane of red hair rustling like dry grass. He wouldn’t meet her gaze. His shoulders slumped even more than they had been, and he… sighed, a horrible, rasping sound. The roiling Malice was audible now.

Zelda, however, smiled at him.

“It’s so good to finally meet you in person…”

“H h h h h…”

She knew he had been through hell. She wasn’t going to let his current state get to her. For his sake...

~~~

It seemed that none of them knew the way out. The caves were as labyrinthine as they were vast, and it seemed as though nothing they did was getting them closer to an exit.

Ganondorf trailed behind them, his pace steadily slowing. The effort of his spirit manipulating his mummified body, against the Malice, no less, was taking its toll on him. Neither he nor Link gave any outward sign of pain or exhaustion, save for Ganondorf’s labored, raspy breathing, but Zelda knew that both of them were in a lot of pain. Link had just technically lost a limb, for Hylia’s sake…

But rest would definitely have to wait. As they rounded yet another corner, they were met with a large, open cavern with an encampment of monsters inside, naturally fortified by stalagmites. 

An alarm horn sounded— the monsters had seen their shadows on the tunnel wall. And as if to prove that things COULD get worse, the massive form of a Hinox rose from the center of the camp.

“K H H H H H …!”

Even as tired as he was, Ganondorf was ready to fight. The monsters hesitated as the ancient Gerudo lurched forward, putting himself in front of Link and Zelda. The Bokoblin archers were whispering to each other. The Hinox’s roar finally stirred them to action, sending a volley of arrows toward the adventurers.

It was all the provocation Ganondorf needed.

With a bloodcurdling howl that in and of itself seemed to deal some kind of damage to the small army of monsters, Ganondorf’s clawlike hands unleashed a massive blast of arcane lightning, even demolishing some of the archers’ towers in a brutal shockwave.

Link and Zelda sprang into action as well, ears still ringing from… whatever Ganondorf had done. The way the lost voe’s magic cut through even the silver monsters was borderline terrifying. Link’s new hand also seemed to contain some kind of powerful, ancient magic, burning with spectral fire that imbued the Master Sword as well.

The tables had turned now, and the monsters had started running, much to the displeasure of their Hinox leader. When its angry shouting failed to make its allies keep attacking, it turned its attention to the three travelers— only to see Ganondorf, arm raised to throw his sparking trident.

It was the last thing it ever saw.

The trident blasted into the Hinox’s eye on a blazing arc of electricity. Crackling energy engulfed the giant, and as it fell, it DISINTEGRATED. The knight and the princess looked back at Ganondorf— only to find him on the floor. He wasn’t exactly at his most coordinated in his current undead state, and the act of throwing the trident had caused him to fall backwards.

“G h h h a a…”

“A-are you alright?”

Zelda held his skeletal hand, helping the broken battlemage to his feet. He nodded in response to her concern.

“I think we should rest here. There’s already a camp, and we’re going to need our rest to get out of here,” said Zelda, bringing Ganondorf over to the makeshift beds in the monsters’ abandoned camp.

She didn’t let go of his hand.

The lost voe awkwardly lay down on his back among the furry bedrolls as Link and Zelda settled in. He sighed, placing his arms across his chest— crossed over his Malice-corrupted wound. The strange resonance that he had used to try to communicate with Link filled their minds, but distant and faint.

_“VPQMH…”_

Despite the distortion, Link and Zelda could feel his relief in the message, slowly drifting off with him.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the cipher again. On a different note, I thought it would be sort of cute if Mummydorf Assumed The Position to sleep.
> 
> Spoiler translation:
> 
> SLEEP...


End file.
